Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 12 Mission Settlement and Advanced Skills

For the residents of the foggy city, this is a day to celebrate.

The ruthless socialite killer was killed, and the foggy city returned to peace and tranquility (at least on the surface).

Sitting on the sofa, Li Wei put down the newspaper in his hand and let out a long sigh.

The news report made no mention of Emilia, only stating that Dr. Dolittle's extreme beliefs, stemming from his daughter's accidental death, led to twisted malice and ultimately resulted in the killing of the courtesans.

But Li Wei knew that the truth was not so.

After that, he and Inspector Lestrade and others searched the entire secret room. At the same time, Levi had a question: why did Dr. Dolittle only choose to take action now, even though Emilia's accidental death had happened several months ago? Where was he all this time?
Dr. Dolittle's diary records the whole story.

What's poignant is that while Emilia's death was indeed an accident, it wasn't entirely unexpected.

According to her diary entries, Emilia intended to perform a solo surgery using the device without Dr. Dolittle's knowledge. However, Dr. Dolittle discovered her actions and tried to stop her. During the ensuing argument, Dr. Dolittle accidentally touched a switch on the machine, causing it to suddenly start and pierce Emilia's heart.

If we're talking about an accident, then it really was an accident.

After that, Dr. Dolittle was very depressed. However, just a few weeks ago, he went to church and met a fellow church member. The latter expressed deep sympathy for his plight and gave Dr. Dolittle a magic book, saying that it contained a way to resurrect his daughter.

Dr. Doolittle initially remained silent, as he, as a doctor, had never heard of such a thing. However, his love for his daughter overcame his reason. He secretly slipped into the cemetery late at night, opened his daughter's grave, brought her body back, and performed a ritual on the operating table—the strange magic circle that Levi and Inspector Lestrade saw was a product of that time.

Needless to say, Emilia transformed into that monster, and according to the book, she could be resurrected by killing sinners and obtaining their hearts, livers, lungs, stomachs, kidneys, and other organs as sacrifices.

It's like something out of a B-movie gore horror movie.

This thing would be considered outdated if it appeared in a movie, but if it appeared in real life, Li Wei wouldn't be laughing.

He had previously thought that this world was simply an ordinary, or rather, somewhat interesting, civilization era of a great explosion of steam technology.

But now... well... those monster corpses can't be faked.

Inspector Lestrade was commended for solving the socialite killer case. The unluckiest officer was actually Officer Fletcher. Although he participated in the operation, his negligence nearly caused the entire operation to fail. According to Officer Fletcher, while he was guarding Dr. Dolittle, the latter suddenly appeared to be in great pain, as if he were having an attack. Officer Fletcher then did as he was told to reach for his medication in Dr. Dolittle's pocket, which allowed Dr. Dolittle to pull out his gun… Thankfully, everything went smoothly in the end. If Dr. Dolittle had escaped, Officer Fletcher's police uniform would likely have been worn out for life.

Levi didn't know what happened to Emilia's body and the magic book, but he knew that the higher-ups took the matter very seriously.

You can tell from the bonuses they give themselves.

The city council offered a reward for information, clues, or the arrest of the socialite killer.

Now Li Wei finally knows how much money this is.

Five thousand pounds!
It may not seem like much on the surface, but it's actually a huge sum of money!

In the Empire, 1 pound gold coin was equal to 20 shillings silver coins, and 1 shilling silver coin was equal to 12 pence copper coins.

If we divide people by class, the average person's annual income is between £5 and £15, which is a few dozen shillings per week. The poor are even worse off, with weekly wages of less than 10 pence.

As for the middle class, their annual income is between £30 and £100.

The highest income was among the nobility, with even the lowest income being around £700 per year. Hereditary nobles, on the other hand, earned between £8000 and £10000 per year.

Hmm... The gap between the rich and the poor is so large that it's obvious.

Incidentally, eggs are quite expensive in this world, costing 1 penny each. In contrast, a cheap meal at a budget restaurant catering to the poor costs only 1 penny.

As for poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese, the price is generally between 5 and 10 shillings.

Although the empire appears similar to a certain country in Li Wei's world, there is a significant difference: the empire is vast, not a narrow island nation, but rather occupying nearly one-fifth of the continental area. Therefore, it is rich in resources, and prices are relatively low.

Take the poor, for example. A coachman earns about 20 shillings a week, and in order to support his wife and daughters, he has to spend 10 shillings a week on food.

In contrast, Levi enjoyed what he considered a savory set meal at the restaurant, which included tea, fries, a plate of meat, vegetables, and dessert—essentially a burger meal without a burger—for 1 shilling and 10 pence.

In other words, Li Wei's meal cost some people a day's wages.

For Li Wei, 5000 pounds was a huge sum of money, enough to allow him to live a comfortable upper-middle-class life in this world.

Incidentally, Levi had originally planned to split the money with Katie, but she seemed very busy. After leaving the pharmacy, Katie said goodbye to Levi and Inspector Lestrade and the others, and hurried off, her whereabouts unknown. Later, Levi went back to the warehouse to look for her, but couldn't find Katie or her two henchmen.

It's strange that the girl seems to have completely disappeared.

So Li Wei decided to save her share of the money and give it to Katie when she reappeared.

However, compared to the money, what Li Wei values ​​most is the content right now.

[Mission "The Mystery of the Foggy City" Completed]

[Time taken: s]

Survey efficiency: S

[Impact/Effect: S]

Overall Rating: SSS

"I see."

Staring at the report evaluation that appeared before him, Li Wei raised an eyebrow. He now understood what the system used to evaluate tasks: the time required for the investigation, the efficiency of the investigation, and the role played in the task.

In other words, the more proactive one is in investigating and the more firmly one maintains control, the higher one's evaluation will be. Conversely, the evaluation will be lower. This time, it only took three days to identify and expose the culprit, which is clearly fast.

Of course, high praise also brings high returns.

[Received Rewards]

[Lifespan +30, Bonus Bonus +15]

[Randomly unlock skill card +1]

[Advanced Skill +2]

[Additional skill selection available - Diagnosis/Anatomy/Treatment] These should be Dr. Dolittle and Emilia's skills, meaning that if you deal with the prisoner, you have a chance to acquire their skills? That's a pretty good option.

In short, first of all…

Li Wei reached out and lightly tapped the air. Soon, three cards appeared before him. They were the same as the ones he had seen before: a pitch-black background with a golden skull, looking extremely eerie. Li Wei circled the three cards, trying to see if there were any hints on the back, but—these cards seemed to be identical on both sides.

Well, I can't see any mystery in it.

Then just pick whatever you like.

Li Wei stared at the three cards, pondered for a moment, then reached out and chose the middle one. As before, the card burst into flames in front of Li Wei before vanishing completely.

At the same time, a system notification appeared in front of Li Wei.

[Reconnaissance skill increased to 80 (Advanced skill gained - Soul Vision / Proficiency 0%)]

[Soul Vision: When activated, it can sense the attraction and traces of souls, reducing lifespan by 5 minutes per second]

"………………………"

Well, that's a pretty useful skill for a detective.

After silently muttering a complaint, Li Wei looked at the system status bar again, where a notification had appeared.

[Shooting: 90 (Gained advanced skill — Death's Eye / Proficiency 5%)]

【Death Eye: When aiming at a target, it slows down the flow of time, reducing lifespan by 10 minutes per second】

That's truly amazing.

Looking at the system notification in front of him, Li Wei recalled the scene at that time. He did feel as if everything in front of him had turned into a 0.5x speed video. However, the aftereffects of this move were also quite strong. After returning, Li Wei had a splitting headache and lay on the bed for a whole day before he recovered.

However, this move is still quite effective for saving one's life. It's just that trading 10 minutes of lifespan for one second of Death Eye feels like a bit of a loss.

Then there are additional rewards.

Looking at the three cards that had reappeared before him, Li Wei fell silent.

Diagnosis/Anatomy/Treatment?

All three seem quite useful... Can we have them all?
Ultimately, Li Wei still chose to make a diagnosis, for a simple reason—how can you dissect an autopsy or treat a disease if you don't even know what it is?

We can't just scribble randomly.

[Diagnostic Skill Acquired: 50 (Your medical skills are mediocre, but you have considerable expertise in gynecology)]

"………………………"

Upon seeing this sentence, Li Wei blinked speechlessly.

I was so stupid, really, how could I not have thought of that? Isn't this what Dr. Dolittle was good at? Otherwise, why would he prescribe drugs to those socialites?

If I had known this would happen, I would have chosen anatomy...

Li Wei was slightly speechless, but didn't think too much about it. He looked up at the room in front of him. Logically speaking, with this money, Li Wei could sell the clock tower and buy a luxurious and comfortable apartment to enjoy life. However, he didn't do that. Instead, he funded the renovation of the place and also repaired the elevator.

After all, the scenery here is beautiful, and the architecture is quite unique.

Silently comforting himself, Li Wei picked up the book again and began reading. After all, if he wanted to be a detective, he naturally needed to brush up on his knowledge of this world; he couldn't always cram at the last minute, could he?

So Li Wei also bought a bunch of books about geography, history and other things related to the world from the bookstore and began to study them diligently.

It must be said that the history of this world is quite interesting.

According to the book, this world has had three periods of history so far: the Golden Calendar, the Silver Calendar, and the Bronze Calendar.

The Golden Calendar felt like the legendary era of ancient times. Li Wei looked at it and found that it described exaggerated myths and legends such as Kuafu chasing the sun or Nuwa patching up the sky. Therefore, the Golden Calendar was also called the Myth Calendar. After all, so far, these are just myths and legends. They only feature gods and other big shots. There is no chance for mortals to appear, and there is no proof that these gods really exist.

It wasn't until the Silver Calendar that history became less exaggerated and more verifiable.

In the later years of the Golden Calendar, the gods waged war and subsequently perished. The world collapsed and mortals finally stepped onto the stage of history.

There was once a tribal chief named Arthur who led his warriors in numerous battles, eventually unifying the entire continent and establishing the Mecaron Empire. He was revered as Emperor Arthur, and the founding of the Mecaron Empire marked the beginning of the Silver Calendar.

Like all dynasties, the Mecaron Empire experienced both glory and setbacks, and after a thousand years of trials and tribulations, it finally collapsed completely.

Ultimately, its core area became the empire where Li Wei now resides. The rest became several other countries.

With its fragmentation and disintegration, the empire was severely weakened and barely surviving. In the later years of the Silver Calendar, it could only barely maintain its current territory and even had to guard against the covetous invasions and plundering from surrounding countries.

This situation continued until the year 997 of the Silver Calendar, when a great inventor named James appeared.

He invented the steam engine, thus ushering in the era of steam civilization!

With the advent of the steam engine, the empire immediately began a vigorous transformation. Countless scientists and inventors rushed into this field, even wanting the steam engine to dominate everything. Inventions like steam-powered operating tables, which seemed inconceivable to modern people like Li Wei, were simply taken for granted by the people of this world.

Then, an invention as great as the steam engine was born: the Difference Engine, which was researched and built by Sir Edmond Babbage and powered by steam!

For an empire that had suffered so much humiliation, there was ample motivation to push forward these reforms. Soon, the combined effects of the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution completely transformed the once crumbling empire, revitalizing it from an ancient and backward nation.

And this marked the beginning of the Bronze Calendar.

I have to say, it's quite interesting.

Li Wei flipped through the history book with great interest, feeling a sense of absurdity. For example, some of the names mentioned had appeared in his own world, except that there was no such thing as a difference engine in Li Wei's world. And the information revolution didn't happen until much later. But now it seems that no matter what kind of design it was, people used it for pretty much the same things.

"Ding dong!"

Just as Li Wei was enjoying his reading, he heard a soft sound downstairs, followed by the elevator starting to move. Curious, Li Wei put down his newspaper and looked towards the elevator doors. The news reports about the socialite case had naturally mentioned Li Wei's name. Could it be that someone had already come knocking on his door with a case for him?

(End of this chapter)